HB 154 Montana House · 2025 Regular Session

Establish a housing fairness tax credit

HB 154 would have created a new tax credit for Montana renters and homeowners with household incomes under $150,000. The credit would equal 75% of either property taxes paid (for homeowners) or 15% of rent paid (for renters), minus an income-based percentage (ranging from 1% to 9.5%). To qualify, residents needed to have lived in Montana for at least 9 months and occupied a home or rental for 6 months during the tax year. The bill died in committee in May 2025 without becoming law.
Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
House Passage
Feb 2025
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Jan 9, 2025 Last action May 22, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB0154_1(12).pdf HB0154_2.pdf · 2 edits
MINOR
The bill underwent a complete rewrite of the list of sponsoring legislators, replacing the original sponsors with a new set of names. Additionally, the duration requirement for claiming the housing fairness property tax credit was increased from 6 months to 7 months of occupancy within the tax year.
Scope change
The bill's scope regarding legislative sponsorship changed entirely, while its applicability to taxpayers was slightly narrowed by increasing the residency requirement.
ELIGIBILITY

The requirement for a claimant to occupy a qualified residence increased from at least 6 months to at least 7 months of the tax year.

TECHNICAL

The list of bill sponsors was completely replaced with a new set of legislators.

Floor votes · House Feb 27, 2025

How they voted

5939
Passed · 2 other
Total votes 100
Feb 27, 2025
D Democratic42
41 Yea 1
97% Yea
R Republican58
18 Yea 39 Nay 1
67% Nay
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
38
Key actions
5
Committee
7
Amendments
2
Apr 16, 2025
Amended
(S) Tabled in Committee - (S) Taxation
upper
Apr 2, 2025
Amended
(S) Tabled in Committee - (S) Taxation
upper
Mar 4, 2025
Committee
(S) Referred to Committee - (S) Taxation
upper
Feb 27, 2025
House · Passed
House Vote: pass (59-39-2)
house
Feb 21, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Appropriations
lower
Feb 21, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Appropriations
lower
Jan 30, 2025
Committee
(H) Rereferred to Committee - (H) Appropriations
lower
Jan 29, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Report - (H) Taxation
lower
Jan 29, 2025
Lower · Passed
(H) Committee Executive Action - (H) Taxation
lower
Jan 10, 2025
Committee
(H) Referred to Committee - (H) Taxation
lower
Jan 9, 2025
Introduced
(H) Introduced
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Jonathan Karlen
Jonathan Karlen
DDemocratic
MT
98